Plastic cap



Ja 1 1969 F. v. WELCH 7 3,419,910

PLASTIC GAP Filed Oct. 21, 1965 INKEIVTOR FORIS V. WELCH, DECEASED ATTORNEY 7 BY HELEN O. WELCH, ADMINISTRATRIX United States Patent 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A nurse cap of vinyl resin material having headboard and crown portions permanently formed into a headconforming ready-to-wear shape.

The present invention pertains to a plastic cap and more particularly to a cap or hat made of plastic for use by nurses, waitresses, domestics and the like.

The caps presently used by nurses and the like are either made of fabric and are required to be laundered and folded to obtain the required appearance, or are made of paper or other pliable material and are worn until they are no longer suitable for their intended use, whereupon they are discarded and replaced by a new cap.

It will be apparent that the disadvantages of the first type of cap above-mentioned are twofold: firstly, the laundering cost over a period of time is quite substantial, and secondly, the folding operation is tedious and timeconsuming, in that the cap must be Wetted, folded in the desired configuration, and left to dry overnight. This type of cap also requires the wearer to always have several caps so that one is available while the others are being laundered or drying in their folded configuration. The second type of cap above-mentioned has the distinct disadvantage of being rather expensive to the user thereof over an extended period of time.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a nurses cap or the like which is fabricated from a substantially rigid plastic type material, thereby providing a cap which is of a permanent nature.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a nurses cap or the like which does not require professional laundering but which can be instantly laundered by merely placing the same under a faucet, since the plastic material readily sheds Water and can easily be dried off, and which after laundering does not require folding thereof, thus requiring the nurse to have only one cap at a time, rather than a plurality of caps.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a permanent type nurses cap or the like made of plastic material having a smooth interior finish and having a textured exterior finish, which has the appearance of a sparkling white fabric.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a nurses cap or the like having a plurality of permanently formed pleats as an integral part thereof.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a permanent type nurses cap or the like having adjustable combs detachably secured thereto to permit the wearer thereof to easily secure the same to their hair without causing undue mussing thereof.

It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a permanent type plastic nurses cap or the like which can be manufactured easily and relatively inexpensively.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a rear view of the nurses cap or the like of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a partial expanded view of the pleated portion of the cap shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a front view of the nurses cap shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a bottom view of the nurses cap shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a partial view of the interior of the cap as viewed in FIGURE 4, depicting the interior surface of the front portion of the cap;

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of the detachable comb assembly of the present invention; and

FIGURE 7 shows the cap of the present invention as actually worn on a nurses head.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGURE 1 thereof, there is shown a nurses cap 10 constructed in accordance with the present invention. The cap is made of a substantially rigid plastic material, such as a vinyl resin, and includes a head-board portion 12 and a body portion 14 having a plurality of pleats 16 permanently formed therein, as an integral part thereof.

It is herein to be noted that, although the particular cap depicted herein has 13 pleats, other types of nurses caps may require fewer, more or no pleats whatsoever. However, the caps required always have a predetermined geometrical configuration which is diflicult to arrange with the ordinary material from which most present-day nurses caps are made.

The pleats 16 have lateral openings 18 formed therein (as best seen in FIGURE 2) and a string or cord 20 is passed through said openings to draw said pleats together to impart the desired configuration to said cap, said string being held in position and prevented from moving outwardly from said openings by means of buttons 22 secured to the ends of said string and disposed in abutting engagement with the outer ones of said pleats 16.

It is herein to be noted that, although the string has been herein described as being held in position by means of buttons 22, pin members or any other suitable retaining means may be used in place thereof.

The cap is preferably made of two separate portions, as previously discussed, a head-board portion and a body portion; and the head-board portion is secured to the body portion such as by sewing (as seen in FIGURE 5). It is to be noted, however, that the two aforementioned portions may also be secured by means of an adhesive, by heat sealing or by any other suitable method, or alternatively, the entire cap may be fabricated of an integrally formed precut plastic sheet.

The outer surface of the head-board and body portions 12 and 14, respectively, are preferably formed having a textured finish, such as a synthesized linen finish, thereby giving the appearance of a sparkling White fabric, while the inner surfaces thereof preferably have an extremely smooth finish which prevents the absorption of hair oils, dirt and the like.

As seen in FIGURE 3, the center portion of the rear wall 24 of the head-board portion 12 is placed in abutting relationship with the front wall 26 of the body portion 14; however, if desired, the top edge of said rear wall 24 may be secured to said front wall 26 by means of an adhesive interposed therebetween or by heat sealing the same together to further prevent any dirt or other foreign matter from becoming lodged between the rear wall 24 of said head-board portion and the front wall 26 of said body portion.

The head-board portion, in the particular nurses cap depicted herein, is also provided with a band 28 preferably made of velvet for decorative purposes, extending laterally across the front wall 30 thereof, said band being secured to said head-board portion by strips of transparent adhesive tape 32 secured to the edges of said band and the rear wall 24 of said head-board portion or by means of an adhesive interposed therebetween. However, the band may also be made of plastic and permanently secured to said head-board portion by any other suitable means, such as by a waterproof adhesive disposed on the rear surface of said band.

As seen in FIGURES 4 through 6, the cap is provided with a pair of adjustable combs 34 having a plurality of slots 36 at the bottom thereof. A string 38, preferably made of an elastic material, is passed through slots 36 on both sides of said combs (as best seen in FIGURE 6). The string 38 is threaded through the upwardly extending lip 40 of said head-board portion, and pin members 42 secured to the ends of said string and disposed between the bottom of the rear wall 24 of said head-board portion and the bottom of the front wall 26 of said body portion, thus detachably securing said combs 34 to said cap. The combs are laterally adjustable by slidable movement on the string 38, and are vertically adjustable due to the elastically of said string.

The adjustable combs thus permit the wearer of said cap to easily and simply afiix the same upon her hair and prevent the cap from becoming dislodged once it has been affixed upon the wearers head (as shown in FIG- URE 7).

It is thus seen that we have provided a new and novel nurses cap made of a substantially rigid plastic material, which is neat in appearance, which can easily be cleaned, which is extremely durable, and which, once placed upon a wearers head, is firmly affixed thereon.

It is herein to be noted that while we have herein disclosed the preferred embodiment of the invention, there 1. A nurses cap comprising an elongated rectangular headboard portion and a crown portion, said headboard and crown portions being made of substantially rigid selfsupporting vinyl resin material, the lower edge of said headboard portion being marginally folded inwardly and upwardly thereof, the lower edge of said crown portion being marginally secured about said folded lower edge of said headboard portion with a rearrnost portion of said crown portion lower edge being free of said folded lower edge, a plurality of pleats formed in said rearrnost portion extending radially inwardly toward the lower edge of and toward the front of said crown portions, resilient string means adjustably securing together the rear end portions of said pleats and the end portions of said headboard, adjustable comb means secured to the folded lower edge, said headboard portion being permanently formed in a generally circular upstanding configuration whereby the nurses cap has a head-conforming, ready-to-wear shape.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 640,436 1/1900 Anderson 2-197 X 1,668,331 5/1928 Mullinix 2209.3 1,997,063 4/1935 Hughes 2-174 2,827,637 3/1958 Wagenfeld 2209.3 3,106,721 10/1963 Steer et al. 2--209.1 3,221,345 12/1965 Berg 2198 FOREIGN PATENTS 473,457 10/ 1937 Great Britain.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

GEORGE H. KRIZMANICH, Assistant Examiner. 

